(Monday, March 5, 1877, midday local time) — Former Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio was publicly inaugurated today as the 19th President of the United States on the East Portico of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., with Chief Justice Morrison R. Waite administering the oath of office.

Former Rep. William A. Wheeler of New York was sworn in as the 19th Vice President of the United States (the office had been vacant since the death of Vice President Henry Wilson on November 22, 1875).

The public ceremony was delayed until today because the traditional inauguration day of March 4 had fallen on a Sunday. Hayes was privately sworn-in Mar. 3, 1877, in the Red Room of the White House.

Hayes and Wheeler, Republicans, had defeated the Democratic ticket of Samuel J. Tilden-Thomas A. Hendricks by one electoral vote in the Compromise of 1877 following the United States presidential election of 1876.

Video: ‘Rutherford B. Hayes | 60-Second Presidents | PBS’